NiGHTS: Crystal Dreams
by MinecraftFan11Scratch
Summary: Steven and Connie must help a certain renegade nightmare save a dream world from a wicked lord. (A crossover of NiGHTS into Dreams and Steven Universe.)
1. Actual Summary

Some weeks after the events of the episode "Change Your Mind", Steven Universe and Connie Maheswaran discover a brand new world through their dreams: the Night Dimension. They are attacked by living emboidments of nightmares, losing all their Ideyas (the orbs that represent aspects of their hearts) except the Red Ideya.

Thankfully, they are not alone in this world: soon, they met NiGHTS, a jester-looking being imprisioned on a blue gazebo-like containment for Ideyas who is willing to help Steven and Connie claim back their Ideyas and defeat the leader of Nightmares, Wizeman. However, it's not gonna be easy, and they must stay brave to put a end to the nightmares of the Wicked.

(Constructive reviews are more than welcome.)


	2. Steven - Prologue

Steven Universe, a 14-years and 8 months old boy who is more different than any other boy of that age. To start things off, he isn't fully human...he's a unique hybrid with a human body but a gemstone located in his belly button that grants him the powers of his late mother. He lives with his caretakers, who are alien gems with magic powers that call themselves "the Crystal Gems" and are defectors from a opressive empire.

Steven always tried to fit in the hole his mother left behind giving up her form to pass her gem for him, but it took long and hard steps for him to do it...using for most of his foes words that managed to change their minds. Even the leaders of the opressive Homeworld, the Great Diamond Authority, were taken down from their cruel ways with his heart. And on said day this happened, he also learned that, despite what other people...or Gems could think off, he wasn't his mother at all, he always was...himself.

But...he will be able to win this new adventure he'll face off just with songs and tears?

* * *

Steven, calmly laying on his bed and sleeping, began to dream.

His dream began in the most sweet way possible. A wide field of soft grass, colored pink, agains't a crystalline sky of a blue color that almost reached cyan. He was chasing butterflies and looking at small, innocent bugs. This lasted for some minutes, or maybe more, when he saw a figure he recognized very well.

...Lion.

_Lion, what are you doing here?_, Steven thought as he tried to approach his pet lion. He just ran away as the dream scenary crumbled, until nothing but a black void remained. Suddenly, he was surrounded by a crowd of shadows with gemstones in different parts of their bodies, saying things he couldn't understand, and he was lifted up by a palanquin. A _pink_, destroyed palanquin overrun by roses.

The shadows, witnessing the palanquin, gasped in shock. Their gemstones began to crack, until they exploded in shards, and the shadows began to transform, into things that didn't resemble a human shape at all. Now, they all looked like simple, smoke-y shadows with red faces of sharp teeth, hissing and laughing.

They were enemies Steven never met at all, and despite him being very strong, the half-gem boy thought the shadows were stronger, in a way he couldn't lay a finger on yet. Anyhow, he decided to jump from the top of the destroyed palanquin and run away from there.

When the shadow beings almost managed to get him, a bright, yellow light suddenly bursted into the horizon of the black void, scaring said beings away. Steven began to feel warmth, safety within this radiating light, and ran towards it, arms open wide and a relief smile on his face, until it pratically consumed him.


	3. Connie - Prologue

Connie Maheswaran, the best fully human friend of Steven Universe and, if one is willing to risk, his crush. She entered in his magic universe and, not wanting to stay behind him or his caretakers, began to take sword trainings under one of them. However, she kept all of it hidden from below the eyes of her parents who, despite wishing her best, took long to understand. Her time helping the Crystal Gems save the day made her evolve from a introverted, shy girl, to a brave and more open spirit.

And she'll need alot of her discovered bravery as a blessing.

* * *

Connie slowly began to get lifted into a dream in her sleep.

It was a scenario she always dreamed off before properly meeting her friend Steven: her chatting with many other children her age, laughing with them together. Since it was a lucid dream of sorts, she has some awareness of how many times she had this kind of dream...and began to feel that something was about to go wrong.

Soon, she spotted someone among the crowd...Steven!

Connie couldn't help but joyfully run towards her best friend...but a alarm roared right on her head when she properly looked at Steven's expression: sad in a dissapointed way, like he was betrayed. He just gave off a quiet sigh and walked away in the middle of the kids, despite Connie's calls for help. Soon, the scenary, which was a very large schoolyard, crumbled until nothing but black remained in it's place.

She was distracted enough with what was happening to not notice a crumbled paper being thrown at her head. Soon, all the kids, who just looked like shadows now, began to mockingly laugh at her, until they transformed into smoke-looking shadow beings with monstruous faces laughing.

Connie tried to fight them off picking and throwing up the crumbled paper, which looked now like a black rock, at one of them. But nothing happened expect a small hole that quickly recovered. So, she resorted to running, running until she could find aid...

...and her inner pleas were answered: she gasped of happiness witnessing a light in the horizon of the void and ran towards it, leaving the nightmarish beings behind.


	4. Steven - Chapter 1

Steven couldn't tell how long it took, but after floating downwards in the white light, sorrunded by five colorful orbs flying around him, he finally stepped foot on the "ground", and a world began to form around him.

It was like the place he previously was before seeing "Lion", but now it also had trees, lighthouses hanging in tiny blocks of sand on the air, and rivers that went as far as the eye could see.

"What is this place?", Steven asked to himself, as he looked with amazement over the landscape. Unfortunately, it left him at the mercy of bizzarely shaped, colorful creatures that began to circle him and grab four of the orbs. "Hey, stop!", Steven pleaded, trying to take back those orbs; he didn't know what they did, but he felt that they were important to him in a way.

Once those four orbs were stolen from him, he tried to throw his shield at the thieves in a attempt to knock them down and retrieve them, but they avoided it as they flied away.

"Oh gee...how I'm going to retrieve those...balls?", Steven said as he saw, spinning around him, the last orb that remained; red, radiating with a curious feeling. "...At least I got this one.", he said with a little smile of relief on his face.

Just as he was about to try and grab the red orb that was spinning around him, he heard soft poundings somewhat far from where he currently was, which made him turn his head around to discover what it was about.

There was a thin, humanoid and feminine-looking figure inside a gazebo of blue and yellow colors, pounding agains't a invisible force field with her fists. Her skin was beige, the eyes were blue with cat-like sclera, and she had many jesterly characteristics; a two-horned jester hat stripped in violet and dark violet, a violet ruff collar, cuffs with yellow and violet connected with long white sleeves and disembodied hands, a purple-and-white unitard, and boots in violet, pink and yellow, with the knees emblazoned in stars. She also had a small and transparent cape of light violet color on her back, a jacket half-yellow and half-pink, which was cutted off in the center, revealing her chest and a large gem, with a pinkish-red color.

Despite the red gem and the feminine form, however, Steven had some doubts over this new creature being a "Gem", because of the figure's human-like skin. In fact, the "person" could be something else entirely, but despite the doubts of _what_ this person was, Steven couldn't help but feel pity for her, trapped and trying to get out of this gazebo. He decided to walk to the gazebo and help her, before going after his orbs.

"Hey...", Steven called out the jester, who stopped pounding the invisible barrier to look at him. "Do you need help?"

"*gasp* Finally!", the jester said in a jovial young woman voice, likely to herself, before looking at Steven's eyes, doing motions with her arms and hands. "Greetings, visitor. Welcome to Nightopia, and you can call me NiGHTS!"

"W-what? Nightopia? And...what's a Visitor?", Steven asked, confused over the amount of information given to him by the jester, as he looked around the pink-ish landscape around him.

"Yes, Nightopia...a world where you, a Visitor, shape thanks to your Ideyas!", NiGHTS enthusiastically said.

"Uhm...you mean those colorful balls? Because I lost them.", Steven informed, making NiGHTS gain a frown of sadness on her face. "But I at least got a red one. Also, please call me Steven."

"*phew* At least one Ideya...and the most important one!", NiGHTS said with relief. "Look..."Steven", it's been a long time since I was trapped in this Palace, and I can't get out of my own. But you can help me!"

Steven, curious to know how a colorful orb would help destroy a invisible barrier, and willing to help the jester creature, decided to help her escape from the blue and yellow colored Palace. He extended his hand, trying to find the limit from the barirer, and eventually touched a bubble-shaped surface, that revealed itself to be the barrier blocking NiGHTS' freedom. He tried to push it by himself, and a red light circled on his hands, popping the barrier like a bubble, which pushed him back and made him fall on the soft, pink grass.

As he got up, holding his forehead, Steven gasped with wonder and starry-eyes as he saw the now-free NiGHTS flying above him, giggling happily. She flied with grace, but fastly, and leaving a cyan-colored, sparkly dust that felt from her hands, with some landing on Steven's nose making him sneeze. After celebrating her newfound freedom, NiGHTS swiftly floated towards Steven, still keeping her feet some inches far from the ground.

"Thank you, Steven!", NiGHTS thanked the half-human boy, who awkwardly giggled.

"No problem...NiGHTS...but I have to get my color balls back from those monsters.", Steven replied, as he got up, cleaned himself and turned around, ready to explore the dream world.

"Wait!", NiGHTS called out, interrupting Steven. "I guess I should help you, since this is sort-of my place as well."

"I can defend myself...but sure! You can come with me. I guess.", Steven explained, summoning the pink shield with rose design he inherited from his mother in the middle, causing surprise on the flying jester. "Also...how you could help me?"

Before NiGHTS could properly answer Steven's question, a noise that sounded like a small explosion with dust echoed from the distance, as with a gasp of surprise, NiGHTS quickly pulled Steven to behind a tree despite his confusion over what was going on. When the two were completely hidden behind the tree, they peeked their heads towards the direction of the sound to see many flying creatures, similar to the ones that stole Steven's Ideyas, meeting someone.

This new person the creatures were surrounding was very similar to NiGHTS herself, but yet they were different. The newcomer, besides looking more masculine than the purple-clothed jester, had a inhuman, periwinkle skin color, a slightly more muscular built, eyes with a darker blue, red, black and dark indigo cloth colors instead of purple, pink and yellow, a circle-shaped violet gem with a dark gold ring, and a shorter cape with a diamond symbol hanging from the red ruff collar. His face had black makeup, and a golden mask with a pink jewel on the center, and black feathers on it's sides. He was apparently giving guidance to the flying creatures, judging from his motions.

"Who's him?", Steven asked with surprise, looking at the new jester being...who looked more evil, if compared to the purple jester he just freed.

"Reala...", NiGHTS replied, narrowing her eyes to look at the red-and-black jester. "He's my rival, the complete match to my abilities. He also commands the Nightmarens."

"Wait...those are the monsters who stole my color balls!", Steven suddenly realized. "We gotta get them back!"

"WAIT!", NiGHTS warned, pulling Steven back to the hideout. "Not yet. Let's wait him leave."

After a arm swipe from Reala, the Nightmarens flied around Steven's world, with four of them carrying shards of one of Steven's Ideyas, white as snow and shining with purity. Reala himself fled away from Steven's sight.

"We must find the shards...", Steven concluded. "But how?"

"Here.", NiGHTS said, offering her palm for the boy. "Take my hand...I'll show you my way."

Steven's thoughts about what NiGHTS meant took his mind, as he slowly and reluctantly lifted his hand and touched his palm with NiGHTS' one. As both hands connected, a white light engulfed them both.


	5. Steven - Chapter 2

When the light cleaned off, Steven found himself much taller than he actually was. He looked at his own hands- _they were NiGHTS hands!_

"Woaaaah!", Steven gasped, his starry eyes reflected in NiGHTS' cat-like blue eyes.

"Cool, right?", NiGHTS said with a smile...before noticing something odd, within' her belly area. "Hey, what's this gem?"

"Well...like I showed, I'm not exactly normal.", Steven tried to explain the shortest way possible, giggling awkwardly, as he pointed with NiGHTS' hands to the pink, pentagonal faceted gem that was now on NiGHTS' "navel".

"Anyway...let's take flight!", NiGHTS stated, preparing for...something.

"Actually," Steven began, "I sorta know how to fl-"

He screamed in surprise, taken out of guard, as NiGHTS suddenly dashed in the air, graceful but fast, doing acrobatic tricks. Steven already knew how to fly when necessary, but not in a way that fast, and he was getting pretty dizzy over so much speed. The jester surely noticed, because she stopped her flight.

"Are you ok?", NiGHTS gently asked.

"Woah...this is like a fusion but...we don't change bodies.", Steven said with surprise, looking at NiGHTS' hands like they were his.

"A fusion?", NiGHTS said, confused about the word.

"Well...I'll explain it better when I can. We got...Ideyas to save!", Steven said, trying to pronounce the odd, new word, before looking around with his eyes. Soon, he spotted a horde of Nightmarens carrying one of the shards of the white Ideya.

After taking down the Nightmarens and recovering the Ideya's shard, the two new allies, collaborating together, explored the dreamscape of Steven, recovering three more of the shards of the white Ideya. NiGHTS used the sparkly dust that came out of her hands, creating vortexes that sucked the small monsters in themselves, and dashed in the air like a drill, while Steven used both of his shields (physical and bubble) to protect the duo.

"We did it!", Steven cheered, as he and NiGHTS acquired four of the shards of his white Ideya. But when the two tried to unite the shards, the orb's shape still had a pretty big hole in the middle. "...there's still one left? But where?"

It could either be due to his empathetic telepathy, or the fact he was sharing NiGHTS' body and mind with her, but he could feel the apprehensiveness of the jester about answering his question. Suddenly, the two's thoughts were interrupted when they were beamed from the Ideya Palace (where they came back too after retriving the Ideya shards) towards the sky, being transported to a black void, very similar to the one Steven saw before entering Nightopia.

"Oh no!", NiGHTS exclaimed, a realization coming to her. "One of the Nightmarens of a higher class caught us!"

"But who? And how we'll protect those?!", Steven asked, panic raising on his head, as he held his white Ideya's shards close to "his" chest. But NiGHTS remained attentive to the surroundings, which began to take form.

A endless-looking lake formed very below NiGHTS' feet, and plants sprouted over it, some of them forming very big islands. Everything began to rumble, until a new being, the size of a house, emerged out of the water with a loud shriek. It looked like a female swan with snow-white feathers, but their wings had back fathers, ribbons of blue and purple spread all over their body, and blue eyes that shined with menace.

"I-it's...", NiGHTS slowly said, with surprise. "Cascade, the water mistress!"

"Wait, look, there's a shard on..."her" beak!", Steven said, pointing out at Cascade's beak. Indeed, she was now holding with the beak the last shard of the white Ideya remaining. "We have to get it back!"

But before the duo could get even near the giant swan, Cascade swallowed the Ideya shard whole and shrieked, making a wave the size of a tsunami that went towards NiGHTS and Steven. Steven used his pink, transparent bubble shield to protect himself and NiGHTS, but yet, the wave carried both of them through the "arena" as easily as dust being swiped with a broom. They bounced through the invisible walls with yells until they hitted Cascade's head, making her cough intensely.

"E-excuse me!", Steven blurted the apology after popping the bubble shield.

"Wait...that's it, Steven!", NiGHTS realized, a large and toothy smile taking her face. "We should hit her more times and she'll spit the last shard out!"

"But how he should- woah!", Steven said, gasping in surprise as NiGHTS avoided a water ball thrown by Cascade.

"In any way we can!", NiGHTS answered, now prepared.

NiGHTS avoided some of the water balls while Steven used his normal shield to bounce back others, those hitting Cascade's neck and dropping some of the ribbons wrapped on it. Once again, Cascade screamed, creating another wave, but this time the duo used a larger version of Steven's shield like a surfboard to ride the wave and reach Cascade's head, which NiGHTS hitted spinning like a drill, forcing Cascade to cough more.

Cascade made even more water balls, with complicated patterns, forcing the duo to get the aid of the plants above the water instead of just using their abilities. Cascade yelled, even more louder than the two last times, and not one, but _three_ waves appeared, directed towards the duo.

_Oh gee_, Steven and NiGHTS thought together.

When Steven made the bubble shield to protect him and the flying jester, the waves began to make a surprisingly coordinated move of boucing them back and forth between themselves, refusing to throw them at the direction of Cascade.

"Steven!...you have to pop this bubble!", NiGHTS screamed, as she realized the situation the two were trapped in.

"But...what if we...", Steven said, scared of being caught by the waves; they looked pretty lethal at all.

"I know, but we _have_ to try!", NiGHTS said, and Steven, with a short sigh, decided to go on with NiGHTS' suggestion and pop the bubble.

The combined impact of the bubble popping with the wave propelled the duo to Cascade's head, and NiGHTS finished the battle with another drill spin. Finally, Cascade coughed the last shard of the white Ideya and screamed, exploding with a white light. Steven closed his eyes to protect them from the intense light, and after opening them, he realized that he was back in his dreamscape, and un-dualized with NiGHTS, who was holding the five shards of his white Ideya.

"Here it is.", NiGHTS said with a smile, before assembling the white Ideya herself and offering it to Steven. "Your...Ideya of Purity."

"Ideya of...Purity? T-thanks...", Steven said, his eyes filled with stars, as he picked back his white Ideya, which entered in his chest. "I can feel a light on my heart...is it this Ideya?"

"Of course.", NiGHTS simply answered, with a sweet smile. "Sadly...I think we should continue our journey later."

"Uh?", Steven just murmured, confused.

He, then, realized a light was taking over the dreamscape around him and NiGHTS. She simply waved bye-bye, and Steven waved back, as he felt himself dissapearing from Nightopia.

* * *

As Steven woke up with a little, quiet gasp, he looked upwards to face the roof of his home. At first, he felt confused. But then he remembered the lucid dream he had...

Nightopia...his Ideyas being stolen...NiGHTS, and her helping him recover the parts of his white Ideya of Purity.

NiGHTS...

...would he see her again?


	6. Connie - Chapter 1

Connie couldn't count how much time was taking her slow descent in the white light she ran off into, but she could count five orbs, all colored differently, surrounding her. Finally, she stepped foot on _something_...and a whole new landscape appeared in-front of her.

This place was entirely different from the place she was previously in before being ambushed by the creatures. It was a library of nut-brown and scarlet colors, with giant bookcases overloaded with books of different sizes and colors that seemed to move on their own. The roof either was non-existent, or was too tall to be seen, since when the girl tried to look at the sky to find it, she just found darkness.

"Where am I?...where did that Steven go?", Connie asked, looking around at the large bookcases and the books on them. She wouldn't lie- she wanted to pick alot of those books to read. Sadly, before she could even try, cat-sized but bizzare and colorful creatures ambushed her and kept hold of four of the orbs circling her. "Hey! What you are doing?!", Connie yelled, as she tried to take those orbs back; she didn't know why she was trying to do it, but she felt in those orbs a light inside herself that she had to protect.

When they began to fly off with the four orbs, Connie picked the book most near to her and tried to throw it at one of the creatures, but the shot failed and they took off.

"Oh no...how I'm gonna get those back?", Connie said to herself with worry, before noticing the one orb the creatures didn't stole: red, shining with a unknown feeling. "At least they didn't get this one...", she said, with a bit more of relief.

Before Connie could try to touch this orb, however, she heard something a bit far from where she was...something that sounded like fingers softly pounding on a surface. She walked through one of the large halls of the library-like world until she found a plaza area, and a surprise at the center.

In the center of the area, there was a gazebo with blue and yellow colors, and a being inside it, sitting on the air with a bored face, a fist holding their cheek, and the fingers of the other hand hitting agains't solid air, like the being was being contained on a invisible force field. This being looked like a female jester with beige skin and blue eyes with cat sclera, violet hat and outfit, disembodied hands and head, a jacket with a yellow half and a pink half, and boots of those three colors with stars on the knees. She also had a light violet and transparent cape, and a large gem colored in pinkish-red.

Three of the many questions Connie now had rushing on her mind were: _Who is this...jester?_, _Why is she inside that gazebo, hitting the air?_, and, _Should I go help her before getting my orbs back?_. When this third question got stuck on Connie's mind, she couldn't stop wondering for how many time this jester was trapped. She at least should try helping her, before going after her orbs. Settling for sure on what she would do, Connie walked towards the gazebo with the jester.

"Excuse me.", Connie started, making the jester stop with her bored pose with a surprised look on her face. "For how much have you been trapped here?"

"For a while, but not anymore!", the jester being said, in a young woman voice that showed the joy that ran over her as she saw Connie. "Welcome to the world of Nightopia, Visitor. My name is NiGHTS!"

"This place is called...Nightopia?", Connie asked, curious about this world.

"You can be sure, Visitor!", NiGHTS answered, crossing her arms with a smile. "You made this world here thanks to the Ideyas, who shaped it according to your mind."

"Okay. First off...can you please just call me Connie instead of...Visitor?", Connie asked, recieving a wink and nod as a answer. "And second...I hope they are not some color orbs I saw before because...I lost them expect a red one, and I have to recover them."

"Well...", NiGHTS said, chuckling nervously. "This red Ideya can break the barrier that leaves me trapped here, at least!...do you wanna try?"

Connie didn't know yet if it was fully worth trusting this violet-clothed jester, but she knew it was worth a shot in the dark. As she extended her hand, it came in contact with a invisible barrier of bubble shape, that she pushed with all her strenght, until a red glow took over her hands, forcing the barrier to pop like a bubble but with much more strenght, since it threw her back agains't the hard, wooden-like floor.

She recovered with a pained groan, only to be caught off-guard as NiGHTS cheerished her new-found freedom by flying upwards, (Connie noticed the jester was leaving cyan and sparkly dust from her hands) and posing her hands to play a flute, despite there being no instrument. Despite it looking impossible, she was actually playing a song through a flute out of thin air. It sounded simplistic, but pretty in a way.

"I'm so glad you helped me, Connie!", NiGHTS said, as she descended down to Connie's level, but not touching the tip of her feet on the ground. "I will help you recover your Ideyas!"

"Really? Thanks!", Connie thanked with a smile, before frowning a little. "I know how to defend myself, but I was never here in this...Nightopia. So, where are those Id-"

Before Connie could complete her question, a burst echoed in a hall dangerously near to the plaza, and NiGHTS, in a swiftly fast move, grabbed Connie's hands and flew with her to another hall, where the two girls watched the plaza area, hidden. There was many creatures like the ones who took Connie's ideas from her, meeting someone.

The newcomer shared some of the jesterly characteristics with NiGHTS, but was more tall than her. Their outfit's colors were orange, blue and yellow instead of violet, pink and yellow, the skin on their head and arms (the rest of the body looked invisible or plain non-existent) was dark gray, they had a eyepatch covering one of their eyes and the other eye, of a indigo color and with cat sclera, had a insane vibe that combined with the being's sharp tooth. They had a light pink, pentagon-shaped gem with a dark golden ring hanging on a blue cloth of the orange ruff collar, and a big, spiky cape of pale yellow borders and dark orange insides. The two could see the newcomer talking to the creatures with frequent, insane-sounding laughs.

"Who is that?", Connie asked, feeling a bit scared over the insane laughs of this being.

"He's Jackle. Jackle the Mantle.", NiGHTS replied; even her showed some fear on her voice. "He's one of the most high-ranking Nightmarens, able to command on others and...too insane and powerful."

"Did he command those guys to steal my orbs- I mean, Ideyas?", Connie asked.

"Probably not.", NiGHTS shrugged. "He prefers most of the time taking matter in his own hands. We better wait him get out first."

And soon enough, the horde of Nightmarens took of, carrying four shards of one of Ideyas. It was white as sugar or chalk, and shined with a sense of purity. After saying something, Jackle crackled before teleporting in a poof of smoke.

"They broke my Ideya...", Connie concluded. "How we'll get all these shards?"

"With a certain ability of mine!", NiGHTS said, confident and smiling proudly, as she extended her palm to Connie.

She would ask to the jester what she meant with the palm, but she believed she would see by herself by trying. She extended her own palm to touch with NiGHTS' one, and her vision was engulfed by a pure, white light.


	7. Connie - Chapter 2

When the light disappeared, Connie felt different...stronger than she usually was, but not fully herself. And this became more clear when she tried to look at her hands. _They weren't hers, but of NiGHTS_.

"Wow!", Connie said with surprise, her eyes shining with diamonds.

"Yeah, that's called _dualizing_!", NiGHTS said, a bit like a show-woman, as she twirled twice and moved her hands and arms. "Now, it's like both you and I are the same!"

_This...reminds me of how Steven and I form Stevonnie, but it's very different!_, Connie thought, but since she and the jester now shared minds as well, NiGHTS could hear this thought as well, and her reaction was a mildly confused eyebrow.

"Anyway, do you want to know how it's really like to fly?", NiGHTS asked with a sly smirk. "Go ahead, you can try!"

In fact, when Connie tried to fly by herself, she _really_ felt different. She felt completely light, like a snowflake or a feather, and flying felt natural. However, it took a good while for her to get good at flying like NiGHTS; before this moment, she tended to almost crash on the bookshelves or fly too high.

"Not bad for a first try...Connie.", NiGHTS calmly congratulated her, with a sweet smile.

"Thanks.", Connie thanked, with a little blush.

The duo flied to one of the bookshelves, as Connie decided to indulge her curiosity for the books by picking one of them. When she gave a better look at it's cover, however, she found out there was no title or author for the book. The book's color was as white as snow, chalk or sugar, and when she opened it...there was no pages. It was actually more like a box disguised as a book, holding a white shard.

"It's one of my Ideya's shards!", Connie gasped, as she picked it up with NiGHTS' hands.

"Well, seems it's like one down and four to go!", NiGHTS stated with a toothy grin.

Indeed, the two found out the next three shards of the white Ideya by exploring the library, full of Nightmarens, and finding books with white covers. In the meantime, Connie tried to experiment some of the other books, but for her disappointment, she found out most of the books only had pictures, and the ones with words (in a bizzare and unknown language NiGHTS didn't properly know either) were pretty short.

"W-where is the last Ideya shard? There's no white books left...", Connie wondered out loud, as she vainly tried to glue together the shards she had in hands.

"Look...", NiGHTS said, a faint reluctance on her voice, as she flied with Connie back to the Palace. "...I'm afraid we'll have to deal with one of the more higher-ranked Nightmarens to get this last shard."

"Are you sure we have to-", Connie said, about to suggest something else, but a beam of light transported her and NiGHTS towards the sky, into a black void not so different from where she was before entering Nightopia.

A scenary that looked like a abandoned, creepy park, formed around the dualized NiGHTS and Connie. What looked like the main attraction of this park, a carousel of black and yellow colors, turned it's golden lights on. On the distance, a high-pitched, little girl-sounding laugh echoed as the rollercoaster ride of the park also turned on. The single "person" riding it jumped with impressive height and landed right at the top of the carousel.

The "Nightmaren" was sort-of human looking, but tinier than expected; as tall as a 5-years old child. Her skin was pale white, her hair (held in a bun titanic if compared to her body) was dark ruby colored, her lips had cherry red lipstick, her eyes were emerald green, and her grin looked playfully malicious. Her head was shaped like a perfect circle, she lacked nose and ears, and her puffy clothes (of light pink, golden and lavender color) were like a clown.

"Tee-hehehehehehehe!", she laughed, nasally. "Found you, NiGHTS!~"

"Nice to see yoou again, Jolly Zamperla.", NiGHTS said in a sassy way, crossing her arms with a small frown, as Connie looked with surprise at the clown-like being.

"Don't kick me out like that!", Jolly said in a bratty way, crossing her arms with a furious scowl that showed the sharp teeth on the corners of her mouth. "Mr. Jackle sent me here for a reason...get ya! And- oh, you brought a Visitor as well? This is gonna be VERY fun!"

Jolly Zamperla laughed in a child-like, yet creepy way, as she held her hands on the top of the carousel, and the horses of the ride gained glowy yellow eyes. Soon, the ride began to spin in a inhumanly fast pace, detaching some of the horses and forcing NiGHTS and Connie to avoid them together.

"We gotta find a way to stop her!", NiGHTS pointed out, before using the dust of her hands to create a vortex and suck one of the horses on it.

"Wait...NiGHTS, are you strong?", Connie asked, avoiding more horses with NiGHTS as she planned something out.

"Sure.", NiGHTS replied, flying above one of the horses. "I'm strong by myself, but I can get even stronger dualizing with a Visitor like y-"

Before NiGHTS could complete her answer, Connie dashed towards one of the horses being thrown and held on it with one of the jester's hands.

"Oh..._now_ I got what you mean.", NiGHTS realized, and threw the horse back at the carousel. It was briefly stopped by the impact, but Jolly Zamperla noticed it, and briefly threw a tantrum over it before spinning the carousel ride once again.

The duo repeated the same process with another one of the horses, after avoiding a wave of them, and once again, the ride stopped spinning.

"Oooh, NOW IT'S ON, YOU JERKY JESTER!", Jolly Zamperla yelled as she began to spin extremely fast, the carousel following pace. Now, not only NiGHTS and Connie had to deal with the horses being thrown at them, but also with electric energy balls of a shocking pink color.

Connie looked at the creepy scenary trying to find something that could help, eventually spotting the sword of one of the ride's statues. She snatched it out extremely easily with NiGHTS' help and bounced back the energy balls with it. The balls kept missing, until one of them went straight at Jolly, and she was hit back out of the ride, making it stop.

"_CURSE YOU, NiiiGHTS!_", Jolly Zamperla screamed as she was violently thrown back by her own energy ball, dropping something that went straight at the dualized Connie and NiGHTS' hands: the last shard of the white Ideya. Jolly herself exploded in a blinding white light when she finally made contact with the ground.

After opening her eyes, Connie realized she was back at the library dreamscape, and NiGHTS un-dualized with her to put the white Ideya's shards back together.

"I believe this is yours.", NiGHTS stated with a smile as she gave the white Ideya to Connie. "Your Ideya of Purity."

"Thank you...", Connie said happily, as she picked the white Ideya and it entered on her chest. "...I really feel something came back to my heart."

"Because it's the truth.", NiGHTS pointed out with a wink. "But...we'll have to get the other missing parts of your heart later."

"Huh?", Connie said, realizing that behind NiGHTS, the books were disappearing.

Soon, the whole dreamscape was taken by a white light. As she felt reality going back to her mind, Connie waved bye-bye to NiGHTS, who proudly returned the gesture.

* * *

Connie woke up startled, taking a while to recognize her bedroom. Then, memories of the lucid dream she had took over her mind.

Nightopia...her Ideyas getting stolen, and NiGHTS helping her recover the first one, the Ideya of Purity.

...when she would find NiGHTS again?


	8. Steven - Chapter 3

It took some days before Steven could once again visit Nightopia, and in the meantime, while he was currently okay with his life, he was extremely curious about what was happening in there, and how NiGHTS was doing, specially since Connie mentioned to him a dream with some extreme similarities to his, but also differences.

But in a night, these questions would be answered.

* * *

When the dream started, Steven didn't even began to dream something that could be normal before taking a creepy twist; he was already falling down a white void, with his white Ideya and red Ideya circling him, before touching his feet on the ground to reveal the dreamscape.

And it was _extremely_ different from the last time. It was a beach area, with many kinds of islands in the ocean, and giant rocks in the sides of the beach. This dreamscape reminded Steven alot of his own home, Beach City, and he was enjoying the atmosphere. He was interrupted from his gazing towards the ocean when...

"Steven! You're back!", NiGHTS' voice came, as she descended from the sky to meet with him.

"Oh, hi NiGHTS!", Steven waved, happy to meet his new friend again, until surprise hit him as he realized a detail. "Wait...you're still free from that...blue...palace?"

"Of course!", NiGHTS stated with a smile, pointing with her thumb at the Palace as she continued. "You might be dreaming, but events in Nightopia are continuous. Your Ideya is strong, and that barrier went down for sure!..as in, unless if I get captured again, somehow."

Steven sincerely wanted to question NiGHTS' statement (_Who could be strong enough to take NiGHTS?_, Steven thought. _She is pretty strong, unless..._), but he decided to just let it roll for now and enjoy the new facet of Nightopia.

"This place reminds me of my home, Beach City.", Steven said, as he walked around the main beach with NiGHTS following behind by floating. "I wonder if there's a version of my home and the Crystal Gems here!"

"Huh?", NiGHTS cried in confusion.

"...Oh.", Steven realized, laughing awkwardly. "I guess I forgot to explain. So..."

Steven took his time to explain to NiGHTS who were the Crystal Gems, his caretakers and parental figures, their backstory of them being gem-based aliens that defected from their opressive empire and fought in a war on the leadership of his mother, a former leader of this empire, and how he helped the tension between the two groups end. NiGHTS couldn't help but compare Steven's caretakers to herself. She tried to keep this fact hidden from the half-gem boy, thought, trying to pull a common interest vibe.

_Should I tell him that...I...?_, NiGHTS thought, before mentally shaking her head. _No...not yet. Maybe later..._

"That's a really interesting family you got there.", NiGHTS simply said after Steven finished.

"Thanks...", Steven said, a blush on his cheeks, before suddenly getting a excited tone: "Now I'm in a mood to splash water!"

With no warning, Steven picked some of the crystalline water of the beach's ocean and threw it at NiGHTS, starting a extremely playful water fight. NiGHTS herself went to the water, her legs entering in contact with the water and transforming into a mermaid tail she used to splash more water at Steven. The two new friends laughed together, until Steven, backing up due to the water splashed at him, bumped into someone, interrupting his laugh and, a little afterwards, interrupting NiGHTS laugh.

"Uh...I'm sorry for bum-", Steven apologized, turning towards the person, only to gasp as he recognized _who_ he bumped his back into. "It's you!"

"Reala!", NiGHTS said, in a more fierce and serious tone, as she got out of the water and her legs came back to normal.

"NiGHTS...", Reala said, in a slightly deep masculine voice, crossing his arms. "I still can't believe you still wander here, on Nightopia."

"Oh yes, I do.", NiGHTS replied, floating towards Steven's side. "And don't you think of putting Steven on this!"

"Yeah, Reala!", Steven said, agreeing with NiGHTS and adding a bit of his opinion shyly. "You should leave us both alone!"

"Shush, Visitor!", Reala said, in a condescing way, towards Steven. "NiGHTS will go to Master Wizeman, whenever you're involved or not!"

"_Master Wizeman_?...", Steven quietly said the curious name, and decided he had to take some sort of action for NiGHTS sake. He brought his shield and stood between the two, twin-like flying jesters. "You'll not take NiGHTS to him!"

Reala was taken out of guard by the shield the _apparent_ normal Visitor summoned. However, to _Steven's_ surprise, as Reala recovered from the surprise of seeing the half-gem boy's power, he summoned a stripped pink and dark orange sphere, a half taller than him, and threw it at the shield. The shield wasn't destroyed, but Steven was thrown back at NiGHTS, leaving both of them briefly unconscious.

When Steven opened his eyes, he realized that Reala, with his own yellow-colored sparkly dust, was about to perform a vortex on him. But this "vortex" was very different from NiGHTS' one: black as the darkness, and it began to suck him inside it.

"Steven!", NiGHTS screamed, trying to fly towards Steven and save him, but before it could happen, Reala snapped his fingers, and NiGHTS began to be pulled agains't her will to the Palace, where another invisible, bubble-shaped barrier was formed by Reala himself.

"I really didn't think I would ever do this again...but it seems that this Visitor is much more dangerous than he looks like.", Reala said, in a way that looked like he was talking to himself rather than the now-desperate NiGHTS. "Now he's in another part of Nightopia, unable to come back here. And I'll report your recent escape to Master Wizeman.", he continued, before flying away.

NiGHTS groaned and frowned sadly when she felt alone. She knew Steven had to come back somehow, he still had to recover the rest of his Ideya. But where he was now?

And most importantly..._how her new friend would escape_?


	9. Connie - Chapter 3

It took some days before Connie could once again visit Nightopia, and in the meantime, she mentioned to her best friend Steven about the strange and wild dream she had. As she told Steven about the dream, she wondered if NiGHTS was doing okay, and if she would visit Nightopia again through a dream.

She would, but not in the way she ever expected.

* * *

As her lucid dream began, she was already falling down a seemingly endless void of white light, but only two of her Ideyas (the red one, and the reclaimed white Ideya of Purity) were circling her now. When she touched her feet on the ground, the dreamscape appeared for her.

And it was _not_ like the library-like world she first stepped into. It was a island made out of marble floating in the middle of the clouds of a sunny sky, that reminded Connie alot of the Ancient Sky Arena. The differences were that it looked stable, even bigger than the Sky Arena, and full of structures scattered around in a careful way. She couldn't deny, she was loving this new world of Nightopia, but...

"Where's NiGHTS?", Connie wondered; she didn't see the blue gazebo anywhere near her, much less the flying, purple-clothed jester. "She should be somewhere her- wait...a telescope?"

Sitting on one of the "main island"'s corners, there was a big telescope of black colors. Connie decided to use it and check out the rest of the marble island by herself, and witnessed the other parts of the island and some Nightmarens carrying shards of one of her Ideyas: deep blue, like a shiny gem, radiating with intelligence.

"They're too far...and high in the air...", Connie said, as she turned around the telescope to find another point of the island. _There_, she saw the blue gazebo where presumably NiGHTS was waiting her. "There it is! Now, _how I'm gonna reach there_?", she continued, as she downed the telescope.

Unfortunately, the answer was right in-front of her view: a fortress that looked big, with a long wooden bridge that took towards it.

"Oh boy. Looks like this walk is gonna take a while.", Connie said with a little frown, but a optimist tone.

"_And where do you think you are going, little Visitor?_", a high-pitched, echoed voice with a insane streak spoke behind Connie's back, making her turn around out of surprise to find out the owner of this voice was the same orange-clothed Nightmaren she saw in the library world.

"Hey! I saw you before!", Connie said, bravely standing up to herself. "You're-"

"That's _JACKLE the MANTLE_ for you!", Jackle said, cutting out Connie's words, and began to crackle time. "Thought you could escape my little radar, right Visitor?"

"Okay, first off, it's Connie.", Connie said seriously. "And second...what you mean with "escape from your radar"?"

"Master Wizeman is quite a bit _MAD_ you and NiGHTS defeated Jolly Zamperla.", Jackle said, his mouth forming a scowl disproportionate to the size of his chin that made Connie uncomfortable, as he floated towards the telescope with motions of his flying hands. "So, he sent me to track you down. Seems like you'll cross that bridge to pass the fortress and find that purple jester girl, right? _NOT if I can't HELP_."

Jackle suddenly summed a tarot card in one of his fingers and threw it towards Connie, who jumped back with a yelp. The tarot card exploded as soon as it made contact with the ground, and some dust was lifted up. Connie took the chance to run through it and surely start to cross the bridge.

"Get BACK here, Visitor!", Jackle yelled, flying after Connie. In the middle of the bridge, the orange jester was already catching up with the 13-years old girl; she had to think on something to distract him.

Then, she noticed, flying in the air alongisde rings made of yellow spheres, some small blue spheres. Connie extended her hand to pick one of the nearby tiny spheres right as Jackle's hands prepared to touch her.

"Take THAT!", Connie said before spinning her hand to throw the sphere at Jackle's body. Jackle tried to avoid, but the tiny sphere ended hitting his cape and flying away with it.

"My CAPE! You little!-", Jackle said with hatred towards Connie, before flying away to catch back his cape.

Connie took the chance to finally cross the rest of the bridge and reach the feet of the marble fortress. She panted as she reached the end, glad of escaping from the crazed Nightmaren, and after recovering her breath, she pushed the gates of the fortress with some difficulty, opening the entrance to a... labyrinth?

Getting steadily ready for whatever she had to face inside it, she slowly walked in, sealing the entrance door afterwards to not allow Jackle to follow her.


	10. Chapter 4

As he regained consciousness and opened his eyes, Steven slowly groaned and got up, only to realize he was somewhere _very_ different from where he started this dream of. If he still was dreaming and on the Nightopia world, then he must've winded up in a completely different part of it. It was like a labyrinth, but made out of marble and with a soil of irregular rocks, and even though he couldn't know at the moment, he was in the middle left of the whole place.

"Oh no...I have to go back and find NiGHTS!", Steven slowly and quietly said to himself, realizing the situation he was stuck in. "I hope she is fine while I'm here..._Hello! Is anybody here?_"

His cry of help echoed on the marble walls, but nobody answered it at first. But then...

"_Huh?...who said that?_"_,_ a echoed voice from a girl came to Steven's ears, and it sounded extremely familiar to him.

"...Connie?", Steven quietly said to himself, recognizing the voice, before deciding to shout another time to call his friend. "_It's me, Steven!_"

"_Steven?!_", Connie's voice cried in surprise, after recognizing his voice. "_Steven,_ i_t's me, Connie! I'm here in this place too!_"

Guiding themselves through each other's voices, the two best friends met each other in a part of the labyrinth and hugged each other joyfully, happy to find each other in a dream world (or possibly multiple dream worlds) they had yet to know alot about.

"So you're here on Nightopia too?", Connie asked after the two best friends broke the hug.

"Yeah but...I wasn't exactly in _this_ place.", Steven explained, frowning a little. "I have a friend who was attacked by a super-strong Nightmaren, and she needs my help!"

"I escaped from a high-ranked Nightmaren who was..._flying_ after me because he was trying to stop me from finding my friend.", Connie explained.

"Wait...", both Steven and Connie realized with wide eyes a question that raised on both of their heads.

"How was _the_ Nightmaren you met, Steven?", Connie asked, still wide eyed.

"He looked a awful lot like my friend, but with red and black clothes, a mask, and he was...not that nice.", Steven answered. "What about _the_ one you met, Connie?"

"He is like my friend in the fact of being a jester, but he has no body and limbs, he uses cards and he's...pretty crazy.", Connie replied, shivering a little bit as she remembered about Jackle.

"So there's...two nightmares after each one of us?", Steven realized, with mild shock.

"I guess...after each one of us _and_ our new friends.", Connie said, neither her or Steven aware that both of their new "friends" were actually the same, NiGHTS.

"Is there a way I can go back to my...Nightopia slash my part of Nightopia?", Steven asked, looking around at the ways of the labyrinth.

"Maybe, but let's go together. This _does_ look like a place we can get lost easily.", Connie said, extending her hand to Steven who accepted it as the two friends began to explore the labyrinth.

The marble labyrinth was much more bigger than both Steven and Connie could expect, and infested with paths that took to dead ends. Above all, some Nightmarens of lower level began to appear in their path, and without NiGHTS help, they had to deal with them together...which was a bit easier than what they expected.

"Look!", Steven suddenly said, pointing to the wall of one of the paths, where drawings of glowing red spheres made a irregular pattern. "There's a pattern of red Ideya's drawn on the wall."

"It seems to try and guide us to somewhere...", Connie pointed out. "Let's see where it takes off." She continued, as she and Steven began to follow the drawings of red Ideya's.

Indeed, the path in the labyrinth drawn through red Ideya's on the walls brought them to a small door. The two friends collaborated together to open the door and looked up to what it had inside: a whole natural beach with a crystalline ocean on it's border and, beyond that, many little islands. The sunlight was strong on the area, and beautiful.

"Hey! It's the world I was in before!", Steven recognized the beach area with a smile.

"Really?", Connie gasped, amazed at the sun reflecting on the ocean of the beach. "It looks alot like Beach City, but full of islands!"

"Yeah!", Steven agreed, but a little frown began to grow on his face. "Well...looks like I have to go back and find my friend so I can find the rest of my Ideyas."

"Me too...", Connie agreed.

"See ya back in Beach City.", Steven said, his smile slowly coming back, as he stepped in his Nightopia world's sand.

"See ya too!", Connie said, her smile a bit bigger, as she slowly closed the door waving 'bye-bye', Steven doing the same.

Both Steven and Connie were pretty happy with the knowledge that each other were visiting Nightopia.


	11. Steven - Chapter 5

After being helped by his best friend Connie, returning back to his part of Nightopia, Steven began to run the fastest he could through the sand of the beach world, to where he last remembered seeing NiGHTS. He had to help her the fastest he could.

After a long while of being caged once more by her mirror-like rival Reala, NiGHTS sadly yet boredly waited to be rescued from the gazebo that was like a prison in her vision. She suddenly pulled out two halves of something from behind her tiny and transparent cape: a mask, extremely similar to the one Reala wore, but with a red diamond-shaped gem on the forehead and two blue feathers on the top of it instead of black feathers on the sides.

The mask was broken in half, each of the blue feathers in one of the mask's sides, and the gem lost it's color for a long time, becoming dull. NiGHTS just looked at the two halves of the mask and sighed sadly...that was the symbol of everything she missed, but now hated.

...if she could just return to the past and try again...

"NiGHTS!", the voice of her new friend Steven suddenly ringed out, making her panic and hide the broken mask behind her cape again. "You got caged again?"

"Y-yeah...", NiGHTS admitted, with a little frown and a sad voice. "Reala did this."

"It's ok. I'll try to free you again.", Steven said with a sympathetic smile before extending his hand to the limit of the invisible barrier and pushing it. Like before, his hands glowed with the red light of his Ideya and it popped, but this time he was careful to not lose his footing.

"Woah...thank you alot, Steven! For a moment I really thought you wouldn't free me...", NiGHTS said, floating to Steven with a emotioned face.

"I won't leave you hanging to fight nightmares.", Steven promised, gently extending his hand for NiGHTS.

The flying jester took the gem boy's hand with a relieved smile, and as the two hands touched, Steven and NiGHTS dualized, becoming one again.

"Looks like we are back to Ideya Recovery business!", NiGHTS cheerfully stated. "Ready?"

"More than in a dream I'll ever be-", Steven tried to answer NiGHTS question, but shortly after speaking, NiGHTS took off flight through the beach-like world.

The duo flied above the small islands, pursuing the lower-level Nightmarens and recovering shards of the next Ideya: deep blue like the night sky, and shining with intelligence. Sometimes, seagulls could be seen flying alongside NiGHTS, leaving Steven amazed.

Eventually, the two had to go down the water to find the Nightmarens with the last blue Ideya shard. And, like before, when NiGHTS entered inside the water, her legs became a mermaid tail, giving to her the same mobility she had in the air, on the water. For Steven, it felt curious yet amazing have a mermaid tail.

Before said Nightmarens could be caught, however, they floated out of the water and flied away at a faster pace.

"We gotta be a bit more fast...", NiGHTS said, in a calculating tone.

"How?", Steven asked before, unexpectedly, getting un-dualized out of NiGHTS without a proper warning.

Steven was thrown in the air and he screamed. However, before he could fall down in the seemingly infinite water, he landed onto NiGHTS, whose body was now perfectly shaped like a jet-ski, but still keeping her head.

"Woah!", Steven said, his eyes filled with stars.

"It's better you hang on thigh!", NiGHTS said, her head turning to Steven as she spoke, before suddenly dashing, starting again the duo's pursue to the Nightmarens.

They had to avoid the islands to keep up the speed, and avoid some Nightmarens who directed their attacks at the duo. Finally, when they were near enough, Steven summoned his shield and threw it towards the Nightmaren carrying the last shard of his blue Ideya; the Nightmaren flied away with a yell-like noise, the others flying after them, and the shard felt right on Steven's hand, who threw his open hand as a fist in the air and cheered the victory. Until...

"Oh...we still got the stronger nightmare to take care off, right?", Steven realized, rather awkwardly, looking down at NiGHTS.

"Yeah...as always...", NiGHTS said with a little frown before changing her shape back to normal and dualizing back with Steven before he could fall in the water.

As the duo took flight back to the Palace, however, a question about his new friend raised on Steven's head.

"Where did you come from? And...how were you created?", Steven asked.

And NiGHTS' reaction made Steven kind of regret making the question. Her face deformed into one of shock, and then fear, doubt, and she began to hysterically laugh.

"You don't need to know about it, Steven! That's just silly...I was away part from this...dream world...", NiGHTS said, at first trying to fake off a playful tone, but then giving up and drowning her voice in a quiet tone. The rest of the flight back to the Palace was silent.

As the two reached the Palace, a beam of light took them towards the sunny sky, which was substituted by the black void.

Soon, the next Nightmaren arena was formed; a camp of dark green grass and a afternoon sky, with mountains serving as the arena's limit. Suddenly, a neighing noise echoed the arena, and the new opponent flied into the arena.

It was a light blue, gigantic winged unicorn with angel-like wings, a long and pointy horn, and legs separated from it's body. It's hair and tail were stripped in light pink and light lime, with sparkles, but the eyes' pupils were as black and solid as the night itself.

"Wait..._Sterkur_?!", NiGHTS identified the alicorn Nightmaren. "But he doesn't come out unless a threat is getting stronger! Wizeman probably already noticed us..."

_The second time I hear this name...who's Wizeman? Should I ask to her?_, Steven thought. NiGHTS seemed to notice these thoughts thanks to the connection the dualization caused, but before she could properly answered, she avoided a magic blast from Sterkur's horn.

The alicorn began to shout magic spells with the horn that went from direct blasts to incapacitation spells, which Steven and NiGHTS had to avoid if they didn't want to lose speed and be stomped by Sterkur's hooves.

"Steven, try to find a blast you can deflect with your shield!", NiGHTS recommended to Steven, as the two avoided another magic beam from Sterkur. "That might help!"

Following NiGHTS suggestion, Steven watched out for the next blast of Sterkur to see if it was one that could be reflected by his shield. In fact, Sterkur threw a magic ball at the duo, which was soon blocked by Steven's shield and hit back at it's horn. Sterkur answered the hit with a attempt to headbutt the duo with it's horns, but they quickly got out of the way, forcing Sterkur to get its horn stuck on one of the mountain's.

"Now it's _my_ time!", NiGHTS said, as she flied in a circle around one of the wing's, creating a vortex with her sparkly dust that consumed the wing until only a small, useless part of it was left.

Once Sterkur un-stuck it's horn out of the mountain, it began to resort to use the remaining good wing to hit NiGHTS and Steven, who avoided the swipes quickly. It began to throw spells with it's horn again, but soon Steven found the correct blast to reflect with his shield, and the process repeated: Sterkur tried to use it's horn, but the duo avoided, allowing it to get its horn stuck on one of the mountain's and for NiGHTS to use one of her vortexes to cripple the other wing.

Now, only with it's horn left, Sterkur began to complicate the situation for NiGHTS and Steven by throwing more blasts than normal, and using frequently a beam blast. Steven used his bubble shield to try and reach Sterkur's horn safely, but he and NiGHTS had to fight together the strenght of the beam blast until Steven himself could pop the shield to allow NiGHTS to drill-dash the horn.

Once it was done, Sterkur neighed in pain and dissipated in the pink dust that was the font of it's power, leaving behind the horn, which felt on the grass-y ground and shattered, but not before a small piece of it could disconnect from it and fly to the dualized NiGHTS and Steven's hands. The last remaining shard of the blue Ideya of Steven.

Since the alicorn didn't explode in a blinding light, Steven could see with his (or with NiGHTS'?) eyes as the Nightmaren arena faded away and he was transported back to his beach Nightopia world. He un-dualized with NiGHTS to allow her to rebuilt back his blue Ideya.

"Here is your Ideya of Intelligence.", NiGHTS said as she handed Steven the blue Ideya.

"Woah...my mind is getting vey full just by looking at it!", Steven commented, before bringing the blue Ideya of Intelligence to his chest so it could properly come back to him. Then, he noticed. The world was getting covered in a blinding light, which meant..."It's my time to wake up, right?"

"*chuckle* Yeah...see ya later, Steven!", NiGHTS casually waved 'bye-bye' to her friend, who also waved back to her before fading away. Once she was alone in the light, she couldn't help but begin to ask to herself...

"_Should I tell Steven my secret? Will be...able to handle it?_"


	12. Connie - Chapter 5

After helping her best friend Steven return back to his part of Nightopia, Connie kept going through the maze alone, eventually finding the exit by guiding herself through drawings in the walls of a blue Ideya.

She pushed the exit door by herself, reaching the next part of the big island and, just some meters of distance, the blue gazebo containing the flying jester. As Connie ran towards NiGHTS, she could swear she saw the jester trying to hide some kind of carnival-like mask broken in half, but she also thought it could be her imagination.

"NiGHTS!", Connie said, after stopping in-front of the gazebo to catch some breath. "How did you get trapped again? Did the Nightmar-"

"Yeah.", NiGHTS cutted out Connie, rolling her eyes and sighing. "The Mad Mantle got me. Even I was kinda afraid of what he could do if I escaped by myself."

Connie did the same thing she did in the first Nightopia dream to destroy the barrier blocking NiGHTS' freedom: push it with her hands until a red glow, from her red Ideya, emerged in her hands making the barrier give in and pop up. She was careful to not lose the footing when she was pushed back.

"I can see some Nightmarens carrying blue shards right there. I saw them on my way here", Connie said, using one of her hands to point out said Nightmarens, and the other to cover her eyes from the sunlight so she could see them better.

"Then what are we waiting for?", NiGHTS said, one hand on her hip and the other extended towards Connie. "I didn't say we were done yet with saving your Ideyas."

Connie took NiGHTS hand, and after the light, the two were one once more. The duo took flight in the skies, making holes through the big clouds of the flying island as they chased the Nightmarens to recover the shards of Connie's blue Ideya.

"Look!", Connie suddenly said, interrupting her's and NiGHTS' flight, as she pointed to a stone and the object on top of it. "A sword!"

"Uhhh...yeah, what's that special about it?", NiGHTS asked.

"I trained alot with a sword back home, maybe we could use this sword to our advantage.", Connie explained.

Even though she was skeptical about the idea, NiGHTS decided to go along with it and allow Connie to remove the sword out of the stone and bring it along, fixed in the wrist. But for the jester's surprise, the sword idea proved effective in it's own way: not only it worked to chop Nightmarens out of the way, but to chop thick clouds blocking the way.

Eventually, the duo used the sword to stab the Nightmaren carrying the fourth blue Ideya shard behind their back. Connie would cheer, if it wasn't for a little fact: "We should go back and fight the higher-rank Nightmaren..."

"Mmm-hmm.", NiGHTS simply agreed, as the duo flied back to the direction of the Palace. In the middle of the flight, a little doubt about NiGHTS' nature raised over Connie's head.

"NiGHTS...", Connie slowly said, catching the jester's attention. "Were you ever from Nightopia, or were you somehow brought here? If so, how did you arrive here?"

Connie's question was recieved with a stare that looked scared, in denial...but NiGHTS simply shaked her head after giving such a stare, forcing the rest of the flight back to the Palace in a uncomfortable, quiet silence. When the two reached the palace, a beam of light took the duo high above the clouds, and a black void circled everything around them.

The next Nightmaren's arena appeared: the large ballroom of a castle, full of brown colors and illuminated by a single, giant chandelier full of candles. NiGHTS and Connie were at the feet of the lower staircase, and a Nightmaren figure that was somewhat taller than Jolly Zamperla jumped out of the left staircase to meet with the duo.

The new Nightmaren was a big anthropomorfic fennec with cold blue eyes, black-and-blue armory, and a snowflake obisidan gem embeded on the armory's chest. He held a cutlass sword in one of his paw-like hands.

"T seemeth like I, Snoweth-Flake, wilt bringeth mine own master's justice to thee!", 'Snoweth-Flake' said, in a young man voice with a heavy Shakespear tone that confused Connie greatly. Meanwhile, NiGHTS dealt with it like it was perfectly normal.

"If that's what you want to do, then I'd like to tell you _we_ _don't_ _care_ about Wizeman's _"justice"_!", NiGHTS fiercely replied.

_Didn't Jackle also say something about a Wizeman as well?..._, Connie remembered some of her first seconds in the Nightopia dream, wondering who was this being. If NiGHTS did notice this question, she probably was too busy to answer.

"W-well, yeah!", Connie agreed, drawing the sword on the wrist, much to NiGHTS' surprise. "And we'll fight to proof her point!"

"So beest t, thee traitorous jester wench! EN GARDE!", Snoweth-Flake yelled, swinging his sword without hesitation towards the dualized NiGHTS and Connie, who blocked it with their own sword.

A fast-paced, and sort of gracious sword fight began through the ballroom. The swords, swinged with enough speed to leave behind trails, clashed agains't each other as NiGHTS and Connie tried to use the advantage of a more light, flexible body to top Snoweth-Flake's bigger size.

"Thee behold way moo experienc'd in the art of bodkins than what thee wast the last time i did see thee, NiGHTS!", Snoweth-Flake said while he began to exchange fast sword blows with the duo.

"Well..._yes_, I got better _exactly_ for this!", NiGHTS lied; she kept Connie's abilities hidden out of fear of endangering the girl and her Ideyas to the Nightmaren.

"Thee may has't gotten better...but thee couldst nev'r see THIS!", Snoweth-Flake suddenly yelled, making a downward slash that was powerful enough to violently cut out NiGHTS and Connie's connection. "Anon, about the-"

Before Snoweth-Flake could even touch Connie, he was caught off-guard when the 13-years old girl got up and lifted her sword towards his nose's direction. By the seconds he managed to recover out of the shock, NiGHTS already hit his back with her drill spin. He bounced over the ballroom's walls until he hit the chandelier, falling down to Connie's feet.

"Behold...", Snoweth-Flake slowly said, with coughs and a bad attempt to get up. "I may beest a creature from thy worst conceit, but yet i has't the hon'r of admitting mine own defeat. Hither, young Visitor. Hither is something yond belong to thee."

Snoweth-Flake threw something deep blue that landed on Connie's hands: the last shard of her blue Ideya. After giving back the shard, Snoweth-Flake exploded in a white light that forced Connie to close her eyes, only to open them after a while and realize she was back in her Nightopia world: the flying island in the cloudy and sunny sky. NiGHTS joined the five shards together, until the blue Ideya was whole together.

"_Now_ your Ideya of Intelligence is whole again.", NiGHTS stated as she gave Connie's ideya back to her in a classy way.

"Wow...It's like its the most important part of my head...", Connie said with starry eyes, as the blue Ideya of Intelligence was sucked by her chest. Afterwards, the world around the two new friends began to get covered in a white, blinding light. "See you the next time I dream."

"See you too.", NiGHTS simply said, shaking the hand of Connie before she could get consumed by the light. Now alone in the white void of light, a question began to cover her own head...

"_What about Connie? She is brave enough to understand me?_"


	13. Steven - Chapter 6

A new world of Nightopia was unlocked by Steven's presence: a florest with sunlight, and flowers (specially roses of a pale pink color) taking over most of the trees. Steven couldn't help but remember his own mother, seeing the scenary, and would probably stay where he landed in to appreciate it more...if he didn't hear a musical sound. A sweet flute with a melody.

"Who's playing that?", Steven wondered to himself, as he guided himself with the aid of his ears to the sound's direction. Soon enough, hiding in the bushes, he found out the noise's source. "...NiGHTS?"

The playful purple jester was sitting with grace over a rock, her hands making motions of a flute with her mouth blowing it. It sounds impossible, but a actual flute was being played out of thin air. And the song was lovely, with a hint of a romantic song. Steven couldn't help but quietly hum along at the rhythm of the song. He would even try to join in to inform NiGHTS about his ability on the ukulele, but...

"So, I finally found you alone once again...and you're free.", Reala said, descending down from the sky with a serious face, but a voice that hid...a emotion. "You were not supposed to be free."

"I don't care.", NiGHTS stated in a calm manner, noticing the presence of her mirror-like equal, and stopped playing flute. However, she didn't get up from the rock yet. "You all never understood my point, so I won't help Wizeman if his ways are still the same!"

"You _have_ too...my...sister.", Reala said, his voice filled with reluctance as he spoke the two last words.

Steven initially refused to believe what Reala stated but, really, besides some appearence details, NiGHTS and Reala were indeed equals to be of the same kind...Nightmarens.

_...Why she had to hide that from me all along?_, Steven simply asked himself, putting a fist close to his chest. He turned his head back to look at the two twin-like being discussing.

"_No_! I don't have too!", NiGHTS fiercely stated, finally getting up as she swinged a arm. "Only if you win agains't me! One versus one, and no cheating!"

After hearing the challenge made by his own sister, Reala narrowed his eyes and inhaled sharply before crossing his arms.

"If that's what it'll take for you to come back, then I accept!", Reala stated, closing his fists as his short cape blowed into a non-existent wind. "_Come on, NiGHTS_!"

Then, out of nowhere, in Steven's vision, a violet blur and a red blur took the places respectively of NiGHTS and Reala, clasing agains't each other as trails of cyan dust and yellow dust followed them.

Watching from behind the bushes the intense, tragedic battle between the two equals, Steven could notice that NiGHTS and Reala were perfectly matched enough to not hurt each other. NiGHTS spinned like a drill, Reala spinned like a drill. NiGHTS created mini-vortexes with her cyan dust, Reala did the same with his yellow dust. Moreover, NiGHTS could only properly attack her brother with her small-vortexes, which worked differently on Reala than in the other Nightmarens: they simply knocked him back with impact instead of sucking him in.

But soon, the tables turned in favor of Reala as he began to make stripped, big and colorful balls to attack his sister. The jester NiGHTS tried to dodge them with the same grace she always had in her flight, but many of them hit her. Finally, after some minutes of doubt over helping his friend (whom he learnt to be the same kind of creature he and her were fighting together some dreams ago), Steven summoned his shield and got out of his hiding bush.

"Leave her alone!", Steven cried, standing between him and a kneeling NiGHTS. Neither she or Reala were expecting the arrival of the half-gem boy.

"You! The Visitor!", Reala said with a hint of anger, extending one of his fingers with sharp nails towards Steven. "How did you free her again?! If I remember, I sent you somewhere else on Nightopia!"

"Another friend helped me.", Steven said, trying to keep Connie's identity the most secret possible, as he de-summoned his shield and his stern expression softened. "Can you _try_ to understand NiGHTS, with whatever she means?"

Steven's question triggered something strange on Reala. The Nightmaren that until this moment showed himself to be the cold and strict opposite for the freedom-loving NiGHTS began to babble, trying to find words to reply agains't him, but failing. Reala simply sighed, in a furious but sad way, as he fleed, forgetting about NiGHTS' challenge as quickly as he accepted it. After Reala's departure, Steven turned to face the violet jester, who began to cry small tears.

"Hey, it's ok...", Steven tried to comfort her. "I understand this style of yours. It's kinda like the same as the Crystal Gems, but...why did you try to hide it?"

"...because...I was afraid you would hate me...", NiGHTS said in a quiet voice that tried to hold back a cry.

"What you're talking about? I don't hate you!", Steven explained, shocking the jester, who stopped crying tears. "I actually understand even more you now. In a way..."

"...Thank you, Steven...for not abandoning me...", NiGHTS thanked, wipping her tears away and smiling in gratitude for Steven, before slowly getting a serious face. "My secret got revealed more earlier than I expected...so, I won't hold back this story I've been waiting _too long_ to tell!..."


	14. Connie - Chapter 6

Connie carefully stepped in and looked around her third world of Nightopia: a outer-space environment full of diamond-shaped stars, and planets of bed-size that floated like they had life of their own. It was like a world-sized reminder for Connie about the summit of her current adventures: going into space to help her best friend Steven. Talking about friends...

"Where is NiGHTS?", Connie wondered to herself, before being recieved with a near-nasty surprise. She was almost tackled by NiGHTS, only avoiding in the nick of time by dashing to her right.

"Heya, Connie.", NiGHTS non-chalantly greeted her, arms crossed and a sassy expression on her face.

"H-hi...NiGHTS...", Connie said, still a bit stunned over the unexpected entrance and dusting off her body from something that looked like cosmic dust.

"Why it took too long for you to come back?", NiGHTS asked, doing some simple motions with her hands. "We just need to re-assemble two more of your Ideyas and we are done with your dream health!"

"...Dream health?", Connie said with confusion, raising a eyebrow. But before this conversation could get further long, a high-pitched crackle echoed around the space.

Connie already guessed the owner of this mad laugh, but before she could try and warn about it to NiGHTS, the flying jester grabbed her and dropped her behind a planet with Saturn's shape, big enough to keep hidden a tall 13-years old girl. Indeed, the one Connie (and possibly NiGHTS) feared that would come, came. Jackle the Mantle came flying in and spinning one of his cards in his pointer finger.

"Finally found ya' once again, Naitsu!", Jackle mocked in a malicious way. "Sadly I couldn't get the Visitor girl before she could free ya', sis."

_Did he call NiGHTS "sis"?...that doesn't make sense! Unless..._, Connie though, as a plausible but shocking possibility ran on her mind, concluding her thoughts. _...NiGHTS is a Nightmaren! But then, why is she agains't him?!_, she continued thinking, confused, as she peeked her head out in a stealthy way to look at the two jesters.

"I...wouldn't let you get to her yet, Jackle.", NiGHTS said, brave and calm but trying to hid a reluctance, crossing her arms.

"Oh, really?", Jackle said, exaggeratedly squinting his eyes, before cracking madly. "_Then I guess I'll just step over your PORCELAIN for her!_"

As Jackle continued to crackle in a mad way, NiGHTS reluctance (and discomfort) got even more visible. Yet, pulling some of her bravery out, she entered in a fighting stance.

Connie observed how the fighting style of the mad Mantle worked: he flied backwards trying to avoid NiGHTS, and threw his tarot cards at the purple jester. Leaving behind trails colored in blue, yellow, white and green, the intention of Jackle's tarot cards was to hit NiGHTS and keep her even farther from him. But when she finally got close to him, NiGHTS had to remove Jackle's cape first to properly pick him up and throw him agains't one of the planets.

She did it once, but for the second time, Jackle grew more careful, throwing his tarot cards in a strategic way to render NiGHTS' flight path. Despite the slow suspicion that began to grow in Connie's heart thanks to the actual species of NiGHTS, she ultimately decided to somehow aid her. Spotting one of the smaller blue spheres, she picked it up and threw at Jackle, hitting a part of his head.

"OW!", Jackle cried of pain, looking around the planetary Nightopia world with anger. "Who dare do this _to the MIGHTY JACKL-_"

Before Jackle could finish his curse, NiGHTS ripped off his cape and used both of her hands to throw him agains't one of the planets. After recieving the impact and recovering his cape, Jackle let out a last resort to win agains't NiGHTS: snap his fingers and summon many tarot cards from within his cape.

"Seems like the jester can't fly now!", Jackle said, crackling of malicious joy as he watched his sister struggling to reach him, her body getting constantly knocked back by the cards. As NiGHTS looked overwhelmed by the tarot cards, Jackle's laughter grew even louder-

Until another little blue sphere hit his head, interrupting the tarot chaos.

"You better stop right at this moment, Jackle!", Connie bravely yelled, holding one of the area's thin and long rocks as a shield.

"There you are, you little bratty Visitor!", Jackle growled with hate, before summoning one of his tarot cards and throwing it at Connie.

The rock was enough to block Jackle's card and save Connie. Jackle himself tried to fly after Connie, but before he cloud descend some inches from his previous stance, a cloth removing sound echoed around his invisible ears, followed by mashed cloth.

"Try again another time, Mad Mantle!", NiGHTS yelled, before throwing the mashed cape at Jackle, who was thrown far away with a yell. After dealing with her brother, she descended to Connie's direction with a regretful, apologetic look on her face. "I'm sorry you had to hear that-"

"You're a Nightmaren, right?", Connie asked, recieving a quick nod from NiGHTS as a answer.

"Connie...", NiGHTS slowly began to speak. "I have to let out something I've tried to hide for too long."


	15. Chapter 7

_Steven/Connie...I'll finally explain to you something I should have told you about a long time ago. My true origins._

_You know this "Master Wizeman" Reala/Jackle and the other Nightmarens talk about? Well...he's their creator, their master...their tyrant. He creates the Nightmarens, but can just as easily destroy them if they fail him in any form. His heart is as cold as ice, and his goal (to steal Ideyas from Visitors and destroy Nightopia to recreate it in his own image) is his main priority._

_One day, a long time ago, he decided to make three Nightmarens of the most powerful kind, first-level, to be his righthands. The first he created were equally powerful and twin like: Reala and...me...NiGHTS. Jackle was born afterwards, but he was defective. He wasn't a first-level like me and Reala, but he was the most high-ranked second-level Nightmaren, which allowed him to be just one inch lower in the hierarchy of Nightmare, right below us._

_Me and Reala worked together to further Wizeman's goals and ideals, bossing around the other Nightmarens and planning how we should steal Visitors' Ideyas. But while I gave orders myself, a question smashed my head like a hammer: "How is Nightopia like?"_

_I knew how it looked like because me and Reala had to be stationed in a part of it to bring orders to the other Nightmarens, but I never knew what happened in it, who inhabited it, and above all, _how_ Visitors looked like. The fact that the Nightmarens just came back with the Ideyas on their hands, claws, and etc., just boosted my curiosity._

_One day, my questions were quickly answered..._

What looked like, for NiGHTS, the beginning of a common "day" of ordering Nightmarens, would later turn out to be a day that would change her forever.

As usual, through a portal, NiGHTS, Reala, Jackle and many other Nightmarens entered in the Nightopia of a Visitor, with the intention of stealing their Ideya and giving them to Master Wizeman. But in the middle of the way, distracted, NiGHTS got lost in the middle of the Nightopia, a glimmering florest with tall trees.

The first thing she tried to do was call for help, but her fellow Nightmarens were too far to listen. The second thing she tried to was wait...but even after a while, no one of her comrades were nearby. Then, while she waited, she heard some strange noise...giggling.

NiGHTS was well aware of what giggling was, since Jackle and Jolly Zamperla used to do those alot, for the annoyance of Reala and Master Wizeman, but the voice that was giggling wasn't from either those. She peeked her head out of the bushes to look at the other side of the thick trees, and found out the reason for such giggling. A Visitor.

A human girl with blonde hair, emerald green eyes, and old-time clothings, was chasing butterflies. It was the first time NiGHTS was personally witnessing a Visitor by herself, and she couldn't help but feel impressed: those Visitors, after all, were beings with life like her...like the others. The purple jester even forgot she was lost on a important mission for her master and simply watched the Visitor laugh, play...but the tranquility moment eventually ended.

Out of nowhere, Nightmarens popped, startling the poor girl who screamed and tried to run away, only to be cornered. The Nightmarens did everything they could to scare the girl, exposing her Ideyas and stealing all of them. When all of her four Ideyas were stolen...a more palid looking version of the girl simply dropped on the ground, tired but not lifeless. As the Nightmarens flied away, the girl faded away from that Nightopia. The whole scene didn't do anything but shock NiGHTS until her deep core.

_So t-this...this is what happens to Visitors?_, NiGHTS thought to herself, as she picked her golden mask, a symbol of loyalty both she and Reala had, and looked at it. _This is what Nightmarens were born to do? This is what I've been doing? Ordering them to do _this_?_

_Yes. That was what I actually did all along...order Nightmarens to strip away the core of the Visitors and give them to Wizeman. When Reala and Jackle found me, very worried, I was careful to hide the fact I saw the Visitor having her Ideya stripped._

_Steven/Connie...you're lucky. You have the rare red Ideya. If you didn't have it...both of you wouldn't even have a chance to recover the rest._

_The rest of the "days" for me were...different. I didn't have the same pleasure of ordering my fellow Nightmarens as I had before. Everytime I ordered them, I remembered about the little Visitor girl...they would do exactly what they did for her, with other Visitors, again and again..._

_Then, one day, I crafted a plan to save the next Visitor I could spot._

_I did this plan in a stealthy way, because while I wanted to save the next Visitor, I still held loyalty to Wizeman, so I tried to invent a lie that could save me from his wrath._

_And this plan actually worked._

_So, I repeated this strategy everytime I found a chance gap. I saved Visitors years and years from having their dreams stolen by my comrades, not expecting any kind of reward. I just didn't want to re-live the experience with the first Visitor I ever personally saw in my life._

_But one day, they caught me doing that._

_And brought me to Wizeman._

"My poor creation...", Wizeman's extremely deep, ice-cold voice echoed in the walls of Nightmare, as NiGHTS was dropped to her knees by two of his six hands with eyes in their palms. "Why you were _protecting_ that Visitor, instead of doing what you were _made_ to do?"

"W-well...", NiGHTS babbled, trying to find words to escape a harsh punishment. "I-i-"

"_Tell. The. Truth._", Wizeman firmly said, shutting down any chances of NiGHTS inventing a convincing lie.

For a moment, NiGHTS felt like she was lost. That she was about to be destroyed, that she somehow failed...until something, in her heart, suggested for her to indeed tell the truth. That maybe everything could be changed with it.

"...that wasn't actually the first Visitor. I protected many others from us", NiGHTS quietly said.

"_**WHAT?!**_", Wizeman and every single other Nightmaren in the room that wasn't NiGHTS said together, all holding different degrees of shock, surprise.

"Dear sister, _why did you this_?!", Reala said in disbelief, flying to NiGHTS' left side. In his head, it was impossible that NiGHTS, pratically his twin sister in appearence and goals (but not personality) would dare to do something like this behind all the Nightmaren's backs.

"This is **INSANE**! In fact, even more insane than ME!", Jackle said, in a mix of shock and anger, as he flied to NiGHTS' right side. Followed by him, Cascade and Sterkur simply squawked and neighed, respectively.

"Ms. NiGHTS stabbed OUR BACKS!", Jolly Zamperla, the Nightmaren who until that point held nothing but admiration for the purple jester, said.

"The lady is a trait'r of the worst kind!", Snoweth-Flake said, with a more melodramatic disbelief. Soon, all the Nightmarens began to voice in all ways and shapes their wrath towards NiGHTS' attitude.

"_SILENCE!_", Wizeman finally yelling, shutting the mouths of all his creations. "NiGHTS, you made a act that is completely agains't my creation's nature-"

"But I did a right thing!", NiGHTS suddenly spoke, cutting out Wizeman's words. She didn't feel like her instincts and fears were controlling her; now, she felt like she was purely speaking by the heart of a kind she never thought she could have. "At first, I thought Visitors never had life, but after seeing one by myself, I realized they are like us...they have a life, their dreams, and we are destroying their dreams! We should try to find another way to make your dreams true, Wizeman!...in a way that doesn't hurt them."

After this speech that had a golden heart poured on, the entire Nightmare went silent. NiGHTS fiercely looked at the "face" of her Master, just shortly glancing two times at her fellow Nightmarens. The silence didn't last forever, though: Wizeman suddenly blasted her with a beam that made her scream in agony, until consciousness left her mind.

…

When she woke up, NiGHTS found out she was in a entirely different place...probably Nightopia. Because Nightopia is always different for each Visitor that enters in, unlike Nightmare, which has just one appearence and nothing else. But above all, she realized the new situation she was in: she was inside a blue-and-yellow gazebo, with Reala and Jackle out of it looking at her with disapproving looks. When she tried to float towards them, she was stopped by a invisible barrier, shaped like a bubble.

"W-what's going on?!", NiGHTS said, fear on her voice, as she pounded the barrier and continued speaking. "Jackle! Brother Reala! What happened to me?! Let me out of here!"

"I'm sorry sis but...", Jackle slowly began to explain, awkwardly scratching the back of his head as he laughed. "Master Wizeman tasked us to trap you here."

"As a punishment for your bad actions.", Reala added, still sad over his "sister"'s betrayal. "You will be freed once you manage to see how bad your mistake was, and to prove it, you must wear your mask back."

"Wait, no! Don't you see that Wizeman is the wrong one in the situation?!", NiGHTS pleaded, as her two "brothers" sighed in disappointment and began to leave her behind, as she still screamed and pleaded: "Please, tell Wizeman that I'm right! There has to be another way of keeping Visitors safe but satisfying Wizeman! Please, don't leave me behind! _Brothers!...please..._"

When NiGHTS was all alone, she couldn't do anything but bury her face in her knees, hug them, and sob, quietly.

_I was abandoned...by my own family, no less. Abandoned because I tried to find a pacific solution for our issues._

_For the first days I was trapped in the Palace, I couldn't help but cry for days straight, vainly hoping Reala, or even Jackle, or maybe both of them could see I was right and come back to free me. But they never did. Later, when enough tears were dropped to calm down the sadness, it switched to anger: even if Wizeman appeared to free me from the Palace, I would ditch him and say I never wished to be created by him._

_Right in the period the anger dominated me, I noticed new Visitors and their Nightopias. The Palace I was trapped in was always the same, but the Nightopias changed around me. And the Visitors could enjoy them...I could not. For the Visitors, I just felt a shard of jealously, because I wanted to fly around their worlds, free as a bird. But when I remembered my own family was the cause of my prison, I cursed their names until there was no curses to drop on._

_But then, I accepted that my family's morals, placed by Wizeman, were simply unshakeable. If my words, that were spoken by the heart, couldn't change their minds, nothing could. But then I began to think: ...what about me? Why I ended up so different from them, despite being born acting exactly like them? How the sight of a single Visitor could change me?_

_Then, some Visitors noticed my miserable state, and talked to me. And I talked back with them. They couldn't free me, because none of them had the red Ideya, but they comforted me saying that one day I could be free again. Talking with them made me finally understand why I ended different from my family: Wizeman giving me curiosity and empathy were the best mistakes he could ever make. With those, I was able to get more attracted to a realm I wasn't born into, but was ten times better, and their visitors._

_So, I decided to make a vow to myself._

"With no fear, once a Visitor free me from this prison, I'll stop Wizeman from destroying Nightopia! Even if it takes my life away, or me fighting my own family..._"_

_And I waited, years and years, with more patience. Sure, sometimes I forgot my own patience pact and tried to fist the barrier by myself, but yet I waited._

_And the one I waited for came, after all._

_And that's you, Steven/Connie._

_I just got to say...thank you for freeing me._


End file.
